Sheep May Safely Graze

Here, finally, is a photo of the finished painting (with photo taken under more even lighting and with a higher quality camera), along with a detail. Because I have desert bighorn sheep in the image, I did go ahead and titled it after Bach's Sheep May Safely Graze. The piece is available here.

By now, it's almost old news that Natasha Richardson died a few days ago. Also, one of my two brothers went to the ER on Thursday complaining of chest pain. It turns out he'll be getting a triple bypass operation Monday morning, and afterwards he'll need attention for an additional three weeks. We're not sure how we're going to do that, since he lives by himself, doesn't have close friends who could help him (he's a confirmed hermit-type), his home is a 90-minute drive away (and we have a vehicle with 359,000 miles on it), and I'm not retired. He could move in with us, but we'd have to see if the follow-up nurse who needs to check him every day would come out here, or if we'd be able to get a local nurse to do it under his insurance plan.

But all of this reminds me of what I wrote the last time re: live but be careful. I guess I need to revise that a little. Give life your best shot. Don't be stupid about stuff (i.e., eat right), but we really don't know how much time we have or what time bombs exist in our own bodies. If you want to do something, do it NOW. You may not have tomorrow, and if you think you want to do it but you're not sure, it means you really WANT to do it; therefore, you should.

One of my favorite quotes (thanks to M. Downs, a features writer for a local newspaper), repeated: "Sail forth - steer for the deep waters only, Reckless O soul, exploring, I with thee and thou with me, For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared to go, And we will risk the ship, ourselves and all." - Walt Whitman

Natasha Richardson

By now we've probably all heard the tragic news about actor Natasha Richardson who suffered what seemed to be a minor head injury but is now in critical condition. Comments like "braindead" have been thrown around, but at this time, details about her condition are a little sketchy.

One theory I've heard claims that Natasha may have a kind of pre-existing condition that led to a weakness in the blood vessels in her brain, such that although her accident was fairly minor, it was enough to initiate major trauma. She wasn't wearing a helmet as she was traveling down the "bunny slope," but apparently, it wouldn't have helped in her case.

The scary part is: this could happen to anyone. Myself, included.

The Bible has a verse about how we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." That's certainly true, but I would add one additional thought: we are also incredibly fragile. We don't seem to be built to take physical punishment at all, especially compared to many animals (for example, other primates) who easily endure actions that would be quite damaging, or lethal, to us.

Life is short, and seemingly incidental accidents can shorten life even more. Make the most of life, but be careful at the same time.

(Picture is a still from the movie, Waking Up in Reno, from natasha-richardson.org).

Sheep May Safely Graze

Well, OK, I won't wait anymore. I'm posting a "quick and dirty" (as opposed to an extremely high-quality) photo of the "Paint-In" painting. That I still haven't titled yet.

I'm considering the title of a J.S. Bach composition: Sheep May Safely Graze, since five bighorn sheep inhabit the desert view. What do YOU think?

More IR

I varnished the "Paint-In" painting today but still haven't photographed it. That might be Tuesday or Wednesday night. But I'll take it to the gallery on Friday, so I can't wait too long to get some high-quality pix of it and some others I haven't photographed yet.

So-o-o-o...here's another infrared photo I took in Joshua Tree National Park last Saturday. I partly wanted to shoot more IR images and partly wanted to see how the spring flowers were coming along. Sad to say, the flowers are pretty sparse this year. It seemed like we had lots of rain, but apparently it was scattered -- heavy in places, light or nonexistant in others.

Under the circumstances, black-and-white photography was quite appropriate.

Back to the painting: does N-E-1 have any ideas for a title for it at this point?

A Local Show

I finally finished the Paint-In painting today, but I want to wait until I get a high-quality photo of the piece for posting.

So as an alternative, our local nature museum is having a show of two styles of art: one is devoted to artwork that shows, in some way, the flowers of the desert. The other consists of assemblages of recycled items. All of this is scheduled to run through Earth Day next month.

As you might suspect, I entered two paintings with desert flowers in them. Here I am at the reception with two of the museum female employees (good thing we're all on good terms: The Wiffee took the pictures!) in front of one painting, and I'm pointing to a small painting as an artist friend looks on. (Funny how the camera makes it look like my hair is thinning!)

Almost

I thought I'd be finished with the Paint-In painting by now, but I had to re-work a few elements.

As you can see in the picture on the left, I added five bighorn sheep to the painting. I think they turned out OK (although it's actually harder for me to paint small images of critters than it is to paint larger ones). That is, until I realized I painted them a little TOO small compared to the ocotillo on the top of the hill at left and the creosote bush that's below it. Those made the bighorns look like miniatures!

So I "pruned" the ocotillo and bush (compare with the picture on the right), touched up the sky somewhat, which is not yet finished. Today I hope to downsize the ocotillo, and I already took care of the creosote bush.

So hopefully my NEXT picture of the painting will show it finished!

Full Color Vs. Infrared

Today I had business to take care of in Palm Desert, and I visited the area that I'm currently painting -- you may recognize the "Paint-In" view even with the minor changes I've made. I was looking for some different angles than those I've already photographed, and I also wanted to make some infrared pictures in addition to the full-color pix.

It's hard to describe the excitement I feel at how easy it is to do what I've done today. When I shot film, I had to use two cameras -- one for the color shots and one for the infrared pictures. (Or, if two cameras weren't available, I had to make a choice between which kind of images I needed the most). No loading and unloading the infrared film into/from the camera in total darkness. No exposure bracketing. All I do is mount the camera on a tripod, then take the color pictures with a polarizing filter and switching to an IR filter for the ... well, you can guess! I can quickly see the results -- another plus.

I'm not sure if I'll ever attempt to make money with the infrared pictures. But in the meantime, any time I go out shooting the landscape, the IR filter will come with me. Compared to the "good ol' days," infrared photography is fast -- and easy!